LESSON 39

My holiness is my salvation.

1 If guilt is
hell, what is its opposite? Like the text for which this workbook was
written, the ideas used for the exercises are very simple, very clear
and totally unambiguous. We are not concerned with intellectual feats
nor logical toys. We are dealing only in the very obvious, which has
been overlooked in the clouds of complexity in which you think you
think.

2 If guilt is
hell, what is its opposite? This is not difficult, surely. The
hesitation you may feel in answering is not due to the ambiguity of
the question. But do you believe that guilt is hell? If you did, you
would see at once how direct and simple the text is, and you would
not need a workbook at all. No one needs practice to gain what is
already his.

3 We have
already said that your holiness is the salvation of the world. What
about your own salvation? You cannot give what you do not have. A
savior must be saved. How else can he teach salvation? Today's
exercises will apply to you, recognizing that your salvation is
crucial to the salvation of the world. As you apply the exercises to
your world, the whole world stands to benefit.

4 Your
holiness is the answer to every question that was ever asked, is
being asked now, or will be asked in the future. Your holiness means
the end of guilt, and therefore the end of hell. Your holiness is the
salvation of the world, and your own. How could you to whom your
holiness belongs be excluded from it? God does not know unholiness.
Can it be He does not know His Son?

5 A full five
minutes are urged for the four longer practice periods for today, and
longer and more frequent practice sessions are encouraged. If you
want to exceed the minimum requirements, more rather than longer
sessions are recommended, although both are suggested.

6 Begin the
practice periods as usual, by repeating today's idea to yourself.
Then, with closed eyes, search out your unloving thoughts in whatever
form they appear; uneasiness, depression, anger, fear, worry, attack,
insecurity and so on. Whatever form they take, they are unloving and
therefore fearful. And so it is from them that you need to be
saved.

7 Specific
situations, events or personalities you associate with unloving
thoughts of any kind are suitable subjects for today's exercises.
It is imperative for your salvation that you see them differently.
And it is your blessing on them that will save you and give you
vision.

8 Slowly,
without conscious selection and without undue emphasis on any one in
particular, search your mind for every thought that stands between
you and your salvation. Apply the idea for today to each of them in
this way:

9 You may find
these practice periods easier if you intersperse them with several
short periods during which you merely repeat today's idea to
yourself slowly a few times. You may also find it helpful to include
a few short intervals in which you just relax and do not seem to be
thinking of anything. Sustained concentration is very difficult at
first. It will become much easier as your mind becomes more
disciplined and less distractible.

10 Meanwhile,
you should feel free to introduce variety into the exercise periods
in whatever form appeals to you. Do not, however, change the idea
itself as you vary the method of applying it. However you elect to
use it, the idea should be stated so that its meaning is the fact that
your holiness is your salvation. End each practice period by repeating
the idea in its original form once more, and adding:

If guilt is hell, what is its opposite?

11 In the
shorter applications, which should be made some three or four times
an hour and more if possible, you may ask yourself this question,
repeat today's idea, and preferably both. If temptations arise, a
particularly helpful form of the idea is: